Politics or Boxing: Manny Pacquiao’s Life after Antonio Margarito
By Gina L. Caliboso
In Rocky III, when character Clubber Lang gets asked about his prediction for his fight against Rocky Balboa for the second time, there’s a steely and determined look on Lang’s face and he says, “Pain.”
As for my prediction in the bout between Pacquiao vs. Margarito, I called for a TKO in the 10th round. And boxing fans everywhere can see that I wasn’t totally off. Simply put – Margarito got beat. Margarito got beat badly. Margarito was in pain. Reports say that he suffered a broken orbital bone in his face and will need surgery.
As for my fighter Pacquiao, he didn’t leave the fight entirely untouched. Pacquiao felt Margarito’s body shot and acknowledged he got hurt too.
As I now have the luxury of a DVR, I looked at the fight between Pacquiao and Cotto. Cotto had developed that same cut and mouse on his right cheek as well. It was to the day last year on November 14, 2009, Pacquiao had stepped into the ring against him.
Pacquiao fought against a bigger guy with heart and boxing ability. Pacquiao had beaten up Cotto, but mercifully, the fight ended with a 12th round TKO for the Filipino fighter. And history repeated itself one year later in 2010.
Fast forward to this past fight, as the referee and Margarito’s corner continued to ask the Mexican battler if he could still fight, he pressed on. Pacquiao would look at the referee and Margarito with compassion as he began to pull his punches. I admire Margarito’s heart. I admire Margarito’s desire to finish the fight. Maybe Margarito wanted to earn his respect back by getting beat up. But as the 11th and 12th rounds each came to a close, both Pacquiao and Margarito had made statements about themselves.
And in the end, as Pacquiao was named the winner by unanimous decision, I saw a maybe I’m done look.
I was all fired up this past fight.
As the resident Filipino flag waver, I sat watching the bout completely stunned and in awe about how beautiful I perceived this fight. Beautiful? How can I call the bout beautiful?
Simply put, Manny Pacquiao showed a tremendous boxing display of how a smaller man with a 6 inch height disadvantage could box. He outboxed Margarito. As the injuries showed, Pacquiao’s combination punches penetrated. The flurry of punches and speed was relentless. I was worried though. Against the ropes, Pacquiao did take a few body shots that hurt him. It took Pacquiao a couple of rounds to figure out how he needed to box and win his 8th title for the Filipino champion.
In terms of the pre-hype to the bout, I absolutely followed HBO’s 24/7. The show emphasized more lows than highs when it came to the Pacquiao training camp in preparation for the fight. The lack of concentration on Pacquiao’s part contrasted to Margarito’s focus set forth by trainer Robert Garcia had me on edge to doubt that Pacquiao could beat Margarito.
As for Margarito, the man caught cheating with hands of plaster, I don’t agree with how the fight ended. It doesn’t make one a man to go through 12 rounds of boxing and suffer a beating. I was impressed with Margarito’s drive to stand toe to toe with Pacquiao.
As he continued to get hurt, I thought the bout should have been called earlier due to TKO. Perhaps Margarito needed to finish the fight just for his own peace of mind. He took the opportunity to fight the best in Pacquiao. The maybe I’m done look for Margarito was more along the lines of feeling he is back in boxing, I can stand legitimate and tall that I fought against the best and took everything he gave me.
It’s not the smartest thing to endure such a beating, but maybe it was Margarito’s way of public forgiveness that he served his punishment from the handwraps incident. It’ll be interesting to see where Margarito’s path will take him.
I’d offer that it is true that Pacquiao is not the same fighter he was over a year ago. It’s the evolution of the boxer to become the example and think about a life outside of the ring. Pacquiao has always made it clear he does a lot of things. He is a multi-tasker at heart. Much to the observation of father-figure trainer Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s primary job has always been a boxer. And I see now more on the horizon for the Filipino fighter – he is committed to serve the people of the Philippines. He does like to sing, but I think he has a better shot at success in politics.
Whether he chooses politics or boxing, it’s painfully obvious that Pacquiao is exercising his options. Yes, he is still strong. Yes, he is now what I consider to be and in the history of boxing, one of the greatest boxers of our generation. Through his hard work and God-given talent, Pacquiao is currently the best pound for pound fighter. In contrast to Margarito and even Mayweather JR., Pacquiao has earned the maybe I’m done look.
It’s the ‘maybe’ part that is ripe with the decision for Pacquiao to decide either way whether he wants to retire or remain in boxing. But honestly, aside from the obvious opponent – Mayweather JR., Pacquiao has no one else to box, and more importantly, nothing else to prove. I’ve concluded that every boxer he faces is going to be bigger than him. At least for now, I only speculate that he should retire. I’ve followed Pacquiao’s career, over the span of several different weight classes, over 10 years of fighting and working his way to be the fighter he is today.
Pacquiao cannot get any better than he is now. It’s now not a question of whether or not anyone will fight him. It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s a question of whether he needs to fight anyone to prove anything. For me, the answer is no. For Pacquiao, who knows? He should for now, just take his Congressional seat, get some rest, and like everything else he’s done, wait and decide later. After all, he’s definitely earned that possibility.